A view of the screen showing an image of Professor Angus Deaton, winner of the Nobel in economics. (Maja Suslin/TT News Agency via AP)

(Newser)
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A Princeton professor renowned for his study of welfare, poverty, and individual consumer choices has won this year's Nobel in economics, reports the New York Times. In honoring Angus Deaton, 69, the Nobel panel noted that "to design economic policy that promotes welfare and reduces poverty, we must first understand individual consumption choices," adding that "more than anyone else, Angus Deaton has enhanced this understanding." Deaton is a Scottish economist who holds both US and British citizenship, notes the Telegraph. His work "has helped transform the fields of microeconomics, macroeconomics, and development economics," says the Nobel panel.

In a phone call, Deaton said he was "surprised and delighted" upon getting the news, but he also spoke of weightier matters, including the world's refugee crisis. "What we are seeing now is the result of hundreds of years of unequal development in the rich world, which has left a lot of the world behind," he said, per the Guardian. The long-term solution is to reduce poverty in poor countries, but he doesn't see that happening "for a very long time." One of his most renowned accomplishments was co-creating the Almost Ideal Demand System in 1980, which "opened a new door in researching consumer behavior," notes NPR.

Prof. Deaton almost made me, a western white male, feel bad that the "poor" from Muslim country's were left behind by western society during the industrial revolution. Of course, the Prof. forgot to fault other things, like incessant inter-tribal warfare in those lands, led by tribal warlords (in place of European princes), failed "national governments" that look only after the governments themselves, not their poor, and the poppy trade that moves more money than all Obama's munitions vs. ISIS have cost taxpayers. I'm sorry to learn that this Nubile Laureate finds no fault in ME culture, dynamics, barbarism or their propensity to adhere to a 7th Century policy toward other nations and peoples. Maybe, include that in the next book, Professor.

Tradedate

Oct 12, 2015 1:40 PM CDT

This is great. Can we take the results of his research and put them into practice? The goal should be to reduce poverty, not just study it.

Tradedate

Oct 12, 2015 1:39 PM CDT

Two Nobel Prizes for New Jersey Professors. Respect to Drew and Princeton Universities.